A tattooed former American Express executive wearing a Madonna T-shirt pleaded not guilty Friday to fatally shooting a prominent Long Island equestrian instructor through his window last month.
Brett Knight, 45, was captured in Tennessee Wednesday and charged with the murder of Ross Reisner, 50, and the attempted murder of Reisner’s partner, Kevin Murray, at their East Setauket home.
Appearing gaunt and with bleached blond hair, the couple’s estranged former roommate was deemed a flight risk and held without bail.
Prosecutors said Knight fired 11 shots from a handgun and made admissions that link him to the murder.
Investigators have also recovered the murder weapon, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
Knight attorney Michael Brown insisted that his client had been close to Reisner and Murray and had no reason to murder them.
“My client has been good friends with these people for like 20 years, so there is really no incentive or motive to cause any injury to them,” he said.
Knight, a Utah native, was once a promising executive with American Express but ended up suing the company, which he claimed fired him because he was HIV-positive, according to court papers.
Knight rented a room from Reisner and Murray at their Long Island home after his suit was dismissed, sources said.
He befriended the couple after moving to New York for work in the ’90s and accompanied them on social trips to Fire Island, Manhattan and the Hamptons.
But Reisner and Murray eventually asked him to leave after his behavior became increasingly erratic and violent, sources said.
The acrimony led to several confrontations, and the couple called police on Knight several times. On one occasion, Knight sent the men a dead bird in a box, the sources said.
Cops said the gunman crept into a side yard at the couple’s house and fired through a window.